Most people know that the 2002 Farm Bill, enacted in April, contains U.S. Senator Jesse Helms's controversial amendment to permanently deny birds, rats, and mice legal protection under the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Fewer people, however, realize that the bill also contains a second Helms's amendment to direct the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study on the implications of regulating these species under the AWA.

While the former amendment is in full force, the latter may never come to pass.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), one of the agencies responsible for funding the study, has decided not to comply with the second amendment. In a September 13 letter to the NAS's Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), Elias Zerhouni, director of HHS's National Institutes of Health, stated that federal funding for the study was "imprudent" because coverage of the animals has been prohibited by law.

Following the announcement, ILAR director Joanne Zurlo stated, "We are ready, willing, and able to do the study [if funds are made available]. I just don't think it's going to happen." Zurlo predicted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the other federal agency slated to participate in the study, is unlikely to provide the funding.

The HSUS is part of a working group that fought for the regulation of birds, mice, and rats under the AWA. "We believe such a study would have shown that the logistics of regulating these species are manageable for both the USDA and the research community, and that would have justified revisiting the issue of regulatory coverage of birds, mice, and rats," said Dr. Martin Stephens, HSUS vice president for animal research issues.

Sources: The Scientist (November 6, 2002), The HSUS